Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1887-04-27
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Wheeling wv. Va.) Register: II
am reading with a great deal Of interest
Nicolay and Hays life Of Lincoln in
the Century" said Mr.. John w.
Nichols, ex-President Of the Omaha
Fire Department, to me. 1.-THE
chapters that will most interest me will
be those relating to his career from
1862 to 1865, and particularly the his
tory of the assassination. 1t is not gen.
orally known that more than one at
tempt upon Lincoln's life was made in
Washington, but such is the fact"
MI. Nichols statement interested me
somewhat, and l asked him to explain.
He then went on and told me substan-
TALLY the following story: In August,
1862, Company K. One Hundred and
Fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, of
which Mr.. Nichols was a member, was
detained as body guard of President
Lincoln.
Up to 1864, owing to the vigilance
of the guards. Mr.. Lincoln escaped all
attempts at violence. The back of the
~Confederacy was broken, and a good
feeling pervaded all Washington, and
vigilance was considerably relaxed.
1t was then conspiracies were Matched
and Confederates raj the city unmo-
Tested. The President and his family
spent the summer months at the Sold
iers' Home, about three miles north of
the city, whittier the body guard accom-
panied them. 1t was the custom of
the President to remain late at the War
Department., and after his work was
conluded he would ride on horseback
out to the Home. That summer he had
persistently refused an escort, imagin-
ing himself perfectly secure.
One night about the middle of August
Mr.. Nichols was doing sentinel duty at
the large gate to the grounds of the
home. About II o'clock he heard a
rifle shot, and shortly afterwark Mr..
Lincoln dashed up to the gate on horse
back. The President was bare-headed,
and as he dismounted he said, referring
to the horse: .'He came pretty near
getting away with me, didn't hep He
got the bit in his teeth before I could
draw the REIN" MI. Nichols asked him
where his hat was, and he replied that
somebody had fred a gun off at the
foot of the hill, and that his horse had
become scared and jerked his hat off.
thinking the affair rather strange"
said Mr.. Nichols, a corporal and my
self went down the hill to make an in
vestigation. At the intersection of the
driveway and main road we found the
Presidents hat-a plain silk one-and
upon examining it we discovered a hull
let-hole through the crown. The
shot had been fred upward,
and it was evident that the person who
had fired the shot had secreted himself
close by the roadside. The next day I
gave Mr.. Lincoln his hat and called
his attention to the bullet-hole. He re-
marked rather unconoernedly that it
was put there by some foolish gunner
and was not intended for him. He
said, however, that he wanted the mat
ter kept quiet, and admonished us to
say nothing about it. W. felt confident
that it was an attempt to kill him, and
a we'll nigh successful one, too. The
affair was, of course, kept quiet in COM
pliance with the Presidents request.
After that the President never rode
alone"
MI. Nichols then went on to relate the
circumstances of a kidnapping conspira-
acy which was attempted to be carried
out the next fall. This plan was un-
knowingly frustrated by the body
guard, whose quarters were immedi-
ately in front of the south porch of the
Executive Mansion, equi-distant be-
tween that building and the Treasury,
State, War, and Navy Departments.
Just to the east Of the quarters vas the
guard tent, where a portion of the body
guard remained on duty. For reasons
then unknown to the guard the tent
was moved to the west end of the
gravel walk, in the rear of the War De-
partment. Shortly afterward it was
learned by the guard that the very
night the tent was moved a plan had
been laid to capture the President as he
should pass along the walk and carry
him to the house of one Green, a no.
~torious Rebel, on the bank of the Po-
tonic, back of the White House
grounds, and thence, when the oppor-
tunity offered, he was to be carried to
Richmond and heldas q hostage. It was
always believed that the moving Of the
guard tent to the west end Of the walk
frightened the c~onspirators and
thwarted their design.
At another time not long before this in
cident, Bourke. tho veteran coachman,
who had served through two admins
trations at the White House, was taken
sick. A stranger from Baltimore ap-
piled for the place and succeeded in Sc
curing it in the absence Of Bourke.
He did not hold the place very long,
however, as he became so domineering
and important he was intolerable.
Bourke was reinstated. One night,
not long after he had been dismissed,
the discharged coachman was discov-
o,od go. E;nr ahnI1t tho tah1a whinh